Back to BBM for 2nd day of Spring Conference today and we had a feast! Salads, sandwiches, kebabs, guacamole, sushi... who says being vegetarian is suffering? It was a fiesta. See how I'm enjoying my Kebabs? Lolz... (No choice, sneak shot by Amanda. Had to smile even thou my mouth was full of food.. Lolz)

There was so much left overs after so Sandy, Tina, Laura, Isabelle and I started a sandwich making assembly line and packed sandwiches for everyone to take home. After the whole program, just hung out at the monastery till almost 9pm before heading back home.

Coming back home after being gone for an entire week sure feels weird... no more ceremonies to attend, no more buddha halls to go to, no more kids to play with or back mountains to run to... just me and my laptop... everything comes back to normal...



Pic 1 - The lunch spread
Pic 2 - The sandwich assembly line


Pic 1 - the entire congregation for Day 2
Pic 2 - the young ones of BBM!


Pic 1 - Acting cute. Lolz... i look like some anime character man...
Pic 2 - Chilling with David Williams. Together with Sandy, we form the Trio: Sandy the Oracle, Williams the Great & I am just Jonathan... THE Jonathan... Lolz...

City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

Finally back to civilization after spending 1 entire week in the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas up in Ukiah. So here's the daily schedule that I followed:
0400 - 0500: Morning Ceremony
0700 - 0930: Universal Door Chapter （普門品）
1030 - 1100: Lunch Ceremony
1300 - 1700: Universal Door Chapter
1830 - 1930: Evening ceremony
1930 - 2030: Lecture
2030 - 2130: Great Transference

23 Mar 08 (Day 1)


Had lunch with Andrew, Nakula, Michael, Ken & another friend under a tree. Pretty cool way to start off. Back to nature. Following that, finally got to meet Eric at Jun Kang restaurant. A vegetarian restaurant that is run solely by volunteers. So helped served food there for a while before running off to bring a bunch a kids to play tennis and soccer. Hyun, Eric, Charly, Jackie, Tommy. High powered elementary sch kids!

Charly and Tommy are 2 kids that I met in Belgium 4 years back when they were both 8 and 3 years old. Back then, they only spoke French, Luxembourgish & surprisingly, Chao Zou Hua (Teochew), so I used the latter to communicate with them. Now they're 12 and 7 and speaks fluent English too! Time flies. And they remembered me coz of my tail. After the games, they brought me to their place and showed me all their self made toys. Reminds me of my kampung days. Lolz... Charly also taught me how to eat a certain flower that grows wild in the back forest. So cool! So there's the picture of him passing me a bunch of flowers that he picked. During lecture at night, helped Charly with his math and he said "I wish u were my brother" and I told him "U're like a brother to me" and he gave me this really wide smile... so nice...

24 Mar 08 (Day 2)

Whole body was aching all over from yesterday's sports. I'm getting old, and had to drag myself out for morning ceremony... Went to help Charly move rooms after 普門品. During circumbulating Buddha hall, saw Victor having a long face on, so i smiled and he had no choice but smiled back saying later that he doesn't know why but whenever I smile he just can't resist but return it back. Thats the beauty of a smile isn't it, it gets return back and its free! =)

25 Mar 08 (Day 3)


Went to trek the back mountain with Charly, Tommy, Andy & Duong today. Infantry training all over. Crossing rivers, climbing slopes, running through poison oaks. Pretty fun. Got to see wild turkeys too, and sneaked up really close to the donkey.


Went back to the house after our adventures to watch "Star Wars IV" and the we had a great dinner! Got to eat the miner's lettuce that Aunt Vivi picked from the back mountain, and some other wild shrubs too. Before dinner, Tommy also signaled for me to come closer saying he has a secret to tell me. And when I got close he just gave me this big hug. And i asked "is that the secret?" And he said "oh... and the secret is... I love u jonathan..." so sweet.. hahz. During great transference, Tommy, Charly & Andy were with me, and they were like laughing all the way, and happiness is infectious - made many others including the nuns smile. I think ceremonies sometimes should be like that... cheerful!

26 Mar 08 (Day 4)

Brought the kids to the health club for a swim today. Some of the older people there were annoyed at the noise they were making, but most of them came up to me to say that its such a great thing that I'm doing by bringing them to the pool and that I should bring them more often. Brings life to the place. During lunch, Charly spotted a strand of white hair on me, and I said "yah... I'm growing old..." and he said "Nooo!...don't grow old!" Then both brothers said that if I leave this world, they want to go to the pureland together with me too (the buddhist heaven). Some strong affinities there. Went back to the health club after to play basketball, squash & more swimming. During dinner, Tommy was trying to cut a peach and hurt his finger in the process. Found out later that he was cutting it for me.. So sweet...

27 Mar 08 (Day 5)


Charly went for some excursion today and so I thought I was gonna have the day free, but ends up, got asked by Victor to accompany him. Lolz... so helped him at Jun Kang restaurant and then went to his place to watch movies with his sister Jessica.

28 Mar 08 (Day 6)

Ceremonies as usual, then went to the women's quarters to help Charly & Andy's moms move some beds and clean up the place as there was gonna be some guest coming. Following that, got dragged by the kids to go play Wizardology with them. A board game. Dinner time, the moms had to go out for a while so i baby sitted the kids - Charly, Tommy, Andy & Michael. Was totally drained by evening ceremony. But sat through lecture which was about dreams and the shurangama. Charly had to go back as his mom was tired, but surprisingly, during Great Transference, he shows up at the Buddha hall just to accompany me and later walks me back to my room before cycling back in the darkness to the back woods where he lives. Really touched by that...

29 Mar 08 (Day 7)


Last day in Cttb, Charly basically followed me the whole day, so I brought him to the store and bought him a gift and showed him some old photos of Master Hsuan Hua. He also did a painting for me, but it was still wet, so I told him I'll take it the next time i come up. We also requested for 5 colored strings from the nuns who'll pass it to him until i go up again. Finally left around 6 something after saying all the goodbyes and Charly said he'll be crying till I go up agian. Lolz... Finally arrived at Berkeley monastery at 8 something where the Spring conference was going on and finally got to meet "sister" & "brother" - Julia & Andrew! Lolz... and since the last time i saw Andrew last week, he's grown taller again. Its so scary... he just keeps growing... spent the night at their place and Andrew cooks some of the best instant noodles! Lolz... Finally went to bed past midnight.

Leap cycles...

Found out that my friend wan'er and her mom Aunt Josephine were arriving yesterday instead... so I drove up to meet them at my aunt's place, and just chill out with cousin Ben. Picked her brother up later at night too. Feels weird meeting again after 12 years... So i guess while Singapore is showing the film Leap Years, I'm experiencing a Leap zodiac cycle. Lolz. Yet it was interesting to see how no one changed at all.. everyone still looked pretty much the same as 12 years ago.

Brought them about today sightseeing and shopping. And My cousins are going to bring them out to some bar in SF tonight and they invited me to join along... I dunno... I don't drink, don't smoke, don't party... I'm a pretty boring person... so i think i'll just run away and proceed with my plan A... going up to the hills in Ukiah...

Memory Lane

So the opening ceremony was boring... but I really enjoyed the time spent with my cousins on the road. Been a while since we really hung out together like this, just us boys alone... Heard this song over the radio from American Tales, "Somewhere out there" and that brought back so many memories to us... watching all the 80's cartoons like captain planet, gummy bears, smurf, ninja turtles, american tales, land before time, transformers, x-men... And about how we used to climb into the drains to catch fish and get scolding by our parents afterwards, and how we got all our toys from the only toy store in town which was toy'r'us at forum in orchard road, the toys we wanted most but never got... and the painful moment when we had to let go of those toys... and about all our other childhood dreams... Really nostalgic...

After that Ben went back to San Ramon and we continued to hang out at my sis's place. Just Marcus, Andrei and I and we chatted about everything all the way till past midnight. It was more than 12 hours of hanging out together... reminiscing about our past 20 years growing up together which has passed in the blink of an eye...

Also learn that wan'er is coming down to town... and they're gonna hang out together... the girl that I had a crush on through elementary and high school Lolz... so they asked me if i wanted to come along... its been really long since I last talked to her... and it would be nice to get to know her again... but I've already had plans to go up to Cttb to meet my current friends... I think its cool to walk down memory lane like this once in a while... but there is no point in dwelling in the past... what's past is past... so i chose to move forward and face the great path lying in front of me. Taking only an occasional glance at the past that I've left behind...

Back in the days.... and now... the changes of time...

Grandma

Just spoke to my grandmother over the phone. She just had a knee replacement surgery and the doctors now tell her after taking away her original knee that she has to replace the artificial knee every 3 months. And bcoz of the surgery, they prescribe her with antibiotics, painkillers, and a whole ton of other medications. Basically loading her body with harmful chemicals. So every 3 months, they cut open the leg again and then give her even more chemicals and earning tons of money in return.

And its not even about the money... but more on how can anyone already in their 60s still withstand that much amount of pain put to the body and that much artificial chemicals constantly absorbed... It just destroys the system... That is the reason why i never liked Allopathic Medicine... They were useless to me when I was paralyzed waist down anyway... That is why I chose to study Traditional Medicine...

Hung up the phone at about 1am. Slept for a while, and then was almost late to go pick up my cousin Andrei from SF airport. Reached there a little late but he just got out coz someone stole his luggage and he had to get it back. So he just returned from a trip to China and was relating all his horror stories. It was so funny hahz. Getting cheated, food poisoning, roofs exploding, riots... Lolz, what a trip!

We're gonna check out this hotel's opening ceremony later this evening at half moon bay and my aunt wants me to check out the area for a flower store for my mom, but she told my cousin that it was I who wanted to open a flower shop and he had to double check that with me! Hhahaz... it was hilarious... he was saying like "wth? jonathan opening a flower shop?" hahaz

Car

Went to get my car serviced today for the 1st time in 5 years... and it was hella expensive! Almost $2000! And they have to keep it for a day. But they gave me a free rental car in exchange and guess what i got - the new E350 Mercedes! Lolz.. check out my ride...

Decided to try searching for my books which my cousin said were impossible to find. So i dived into the labyrinth of boxes in my aunt's storage room and within 5 minutes, I located all my books. How did I find them so fast? Instincts man... always trust your first instincts. I thought I had only 1 box... turns out I have 7 boxes worth of books. Can't believe I read all these books during college. So there you go, 7 boxes with books that probably amount to a thousand dollars worth... and containing my notes scribbled all over... priceless... (at least to me)

Readings...

Visit Hua today, a very skilled chinese physician, and was turned down again. 2nd time... She's really an interesting character. If its not any serious problems, she refuses to treat u and refuses to take any money for the advice she gives to cure the problem. And when she tells me what herbs i should take and I try to buy them from her, shes says "oh... the ones in my store are all old, i'm not selling, i'll eat them myself... you go somewhere else to buy" lolz... I can never figure her out... such a character, yet such a great healer.

Had 2nd lunch after that then returned to my sister's place where i exchanged some tarot readings with Sandy since she said that she has not been read for a long time. Its been years since i read anyone so no I'm not reading any other people... i gave her the reading only in exchange for mine.

So my reading mainly was that i should try to be more compassionate to my school administrators despite the class issue and that i was still living in 2 worlds... singapore and usa. Body and emotions in singapore, mind and spirit in usa... deep huhz... hahz. I love both places too much to want to live in one or the other... 1 body is just not enough! And that explains alot about what i'm going through... gotta come back into the present time... Carpe diem!

Received a call from Eric too! chatted for quite a while over the phone. Love this little kid... always so cute! lolz... So we arranged to meet in Ukiah on either Friday or Saturday. Also, gonna finally meet Jin Ping! Lolz... have known her for like 5 years but never met her. This weekend should be fun!

Vegfest

Was at San Jose yesterday when someone just came up to me and said that he had read my blog! I was surprised... and up in Ukiah today, Lucy told me she read my blog too! Hahz... hope i didn't bore u all with all my incessant complains.. =P

Was up at Ukiah for the VegFest today, was surprised to see Wanyi there! Didn't know that she had been studying for 2 years in the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. And bcoz i was away from the city for about 2 years while i was serving NS, all these old friends came up to chat and Wanyi was saying like "Wah... so popular sia..." so she started calling me "Mr. Popular" and soon all the girl's school started calling me that and I knew if I hung out there any longer I mite get in trouble. Girls sch students and boy's sch students are not allowed to interact and I sort of belong to the boy's school...

So ran to hide in the kitchen and all these wonderful mums kept feeding me with burgers, desserts, rice, noodles... hahaz... They're just all so kind. And Mrs Bostick was wrapping burgers and I think she mistook me as Andrew when she said "Guojuan's son can come help me wrap the burgers." Took me a while to realize she was referring to me since Andrew wasn't there... hahaz. So Julia and Andrew... i guess you just got a new brother here...Lolz. Oh wells, you guys have always been like family to me anyways...

Another person came up to me and kept asking about Jennifer and I was wondering who's Jennifer... then later i heard that Jennifer was an alumni from the girls school and she thought that i was Jennifer's boyfriend... Lolz... But i also heard that Jennifer is very beautiful.. I have no idea who she is thou...

Looks like I'm being mistaken as everyone else but myself! So who am I? Lolz... But anyway, had an extremely wonderful day meeting familiar faces, listening to Rev. Heng Sure on the guitar, and eating delicious vegetarian food. Good food, Good music, Good Friends... Great day...

Sch sys sux

I think my sch system sux... after meeting with the dean of student affairs, the dean of academics, the president of the student council... conclusion is that I still have to waste money on the extra 3 units. But the bargain now is that I'll get to do what i want and in another college. If its not for the good friends in this school that I've made... I think i'd have applied for a transfer...

Went to Gold Sage monastery at 8am this morning for ceremony. They were transmitting the 8 precepts, but i didn't receive it all... don't think i can with this rebellious nature of mine. Stayed on for a pretty interesting lecture till 3pm. 7 hours in the monastery.

Went to repair my macbook after and it took me 1/2 an hour just to get a parking space at the mall. Frustrating... Americans have nothing better to do on saturdays... why don't they all just stay at HOME!

Went to my sister's place to visit her, and she goes to the library to study instead... Had i known, then i wouldn't have bothered... no difference visiting or not. She does that all the time...

Okiez... i'm just having a bad day thinking about the lousy sch sys. Well... hope tml will be a better day. Going to go up to Ukiah with Rev. Heng Sure to attend the VegFest! A Festival to celebrate Vegetarianism with lots of yummy vegetarian food! Lolz... Should be fun.

Finals exams finally over!!! 1st quarter accomplished! And I got 98/100 for my Anatomy finals!! Woohoo! Guess the late nite studying and cookies paid off... hahz. This one is for u Dr. Su! One of the best teachers I've ever met! He's already in his 70's and still the most energetic in class!

So I went out with Nicole, Milly, Max & Kristine after to celebrate! We hung out at this pub for like 5 hours... talking about everything from school to horoscope, to dreams, to ghosts, to psychic abilities... far out stuff! lolz and we came out with this crazy idea that in September 09, we'll travel to Tibet together! We'll see how that goes! lolz. So glad to be free finally... 2 weeks break and then the cycle starts again...

Guess i've been having lots of military contacts coming back these few days... Receive an email from my clique during the Advance Officer's course and we got this mail list chat going on now. So of the original 8, 2 of us are in America, 2 in Australia, and 4 remaining in Singapore. We're all over.. hahz

ALso got to know a new friend, a fellow officer who's name is... peaceful bamboo! lolz.. bet u regret letting me know your chinese name now..hahz oh well. But at least its better than mine.. i'm the virtuous red carpet...Lolz
And not to forget Isaac, officer in the making.. Jiayou! join the family! hahz.. and Brent, my bro. Thanks guys for accompanying me online... it can get very boring studying here... And Weyman, I wan to know Cherlyn! Intro!!! Lolz..

Looks like my new year's wish is coming true thou... getting to know all these new friends... and having a great clique at school too! Jill, Nicole, Michelle, Lawerence, Amanda... so looking forward to our outing on friday after finals!

Alrite... apart fr all the good news, my school is making me pay extra US$600 for nothing! Just bcoz i passed out of their chinese class and they need to fill up the gap with something... stupid! I'm so not gonna accept that lame reason... I'm soooo gonna see the Dean of the Sch tml... Fight Fight Fight all the way!!! To Lead! to Excel! To Overcome!!!

12th Mono

Got to talk to some of my men whom i trained when i was still Coy 2IC of 3SIR... They just came back from an overseas training a few hours ago and were relating to me how tough it was.. One of them also got bitten by a snake and COA went to visit him! Wah liaoz... i hospitalized so many times also not a single person visit me sia.. Unfair!!!

But yes... i sure remember my trainee days... Wouldn't want to go back to those days... but I sure do miss u all! 3 SIR Bravo 12th Mono intake... u guys are the best soldiers I've ever had! 11th Mono too! DUn get me wrong! hahz..

I guess I can count myself lucky to have taken 2 great direct enlistment companies in my short term there. Although I lost 3 months of lull period in that... I'm still happy to have met u all! All 200 of u... To see your transformation and metamorphosis... was extraordinary for me... Thank you for the opportunity to train with you guys, and thank you for all the memories that we've shared.

Start of exams

Finals begin today and every student is at every corner studiously flippling through books and regurgitating to each other what they have memorized and here I am sitting before the computer at school blogging...

Not that I am confident, but more that i have reached saturation... Not sure of what thou coz i have certainly not put at much effort as I would have liked to in this round of tests.

Just had my Biology exam. Didn't do as well... but I'm sure i passed. Medical history exam in 2 hours. We'll see how that one goes! =)

And my housemate's gf finally stopped singing coz she developed a cough and probably sore throat from too much singing... karma man... peace at last!... Lolz.. i'm so evill...

Sleepless in San Francisco... dun understand why, but after being kept up yesterday by my housemate's singing, it broke my regular sleep cycle and I am unable to go to sleep last night... Suffering from insomnia now...

The mind is such a weird thing... doesn't seem to belong to me... the more i wan it to sleep, the more it doesn't sleep... The more I dun care about sleep and think about other things, the more of other things pop up... Its a lose-lose situation... Sobz... I wan my sleep.....

And today, my housemate and his gf sang again. The voice of the banshee fills the house. Fortunately i caught some sleep in the day. I have no choice but to sleep in the day and wake up at night... I'm turning into a vampire...

Model

So this ugly boy finally got his photo from the photo shoot to be used for the school catalogue... so i guess my ugly face is now gonna be spread around the world! Lolz...

Finals week next week. So fast, a quarter has gone by. Time is just flying by so quickly, it's kind of scary and makes u wonder if you have made good use of the time given to you. But i guess, I've learnt alot over these few months, and made many new friends... I'm happy.

Received an sms from my bro Jeffrey too. Always so happy to see your name appear in my phone. Thanks bro! I miss Singapore... miss u too! =)

And my housemate just bought a karaoke sys... and its almost midnite and he's still singing wf his gf! Wah liaoz!!!!! damn irritating sia!!!!I wan my beauty sleep........

So no choice, gotta wait till they shut up... and meanwhile, got to chat with my "son" Keith! lolz... and we were like coming out with all these conspiracies on how to stop their singing... hahaz... evil runs in the family! Lolz... miss u too son! Lolz...

Was walking to the grocery store today when I overheard this group of high school girls calling me ugly. Sobz... they were so mean...

I was so sad so i walked into the grocery store and bought the biggest box of cookies to drown my sorrows in...

Since I'm already so ugly, i guess there can't be any more damage done...

Frugal Living

Economy's bad, and I can't really get a job in the US being an international student... so i guess i just gotta live frugally. Been cooking all my meals lately and yesterday, i sold my face for $25... was model for sch's view bk and gt a $25 gift certificate for the nearby cafe. Today, washed the toilets of my house so that I could avoid paying for a house cleaner that my housemates were gonna hire. I was like... how difficult can washing the toilets be... especially after washing toilets for 2 years in NS...

Life Stories

Guess my Saturday turned out to be very interesting. Woke up with an extremely swollen left scapula region... and after cooking lunch, went to look for my school mates Dimitri and Jessica. And after a few needles and cuppings, the swelling disappeared! The wonders of chinese medicine... the importance of friends...

Drop by BBM after where i was fed with a sumptuous meal as always. And Charity Focus was having their gathering there too! This is a phenomenal group of young people that started a non profit organization and now doing wonders around the world. Kudos especially to Nepun!

They screened an independent movie documentary - Joe's story. About the producer's friend Paul and how their family's love got their father who suffered from traumatic brain injury back on the road to recovery. It was really touching... and Silas, the director was there to talk about it himself. And everyone just shared these amazing stories of giving, compassion, humilty and healing...

At the end of it, Silus needed a ride to SF and i offered at first but he said it was ok. So I was going to leave, but something in me told me to wait a little more... and it turns out that the people who were driving him were gonna drop him at the train station. So he did need the ride afterall... I'm glad i trusted my instincts at that moment as it got me a new friend - Silas, 26, independant film producer, sending the message of hope to the world...

Being around all these great people really inspires you... and makes u think what u want to be in the future... and it gives you the message that every single little thing that you do, can be the hope in someone's life.

To find out more about his productions, check out his website:
Smooth Feather Productions

Leap Day

Its the Leap Day today. An extra day that comes only once in 4 years. And one of my classmate said that you should do something extra on an extra day! She shouldnt have said that... now i want to do something... but i have nothing to do...

So my day just passed by like any other day... cook lunch, go school, cook dinner.. sleep... sadz... Tried to watch tv, but i didn't know how to turn it on as i had not watched tv for the past 4 years... ended up having to ask my housemate how to turn on the tv and he looked at me as if i was an alien...i felt like an idiot...

Got asked to be model for the school's catalog though. Photo shoot is on monday if i'm willing... dunno.. dun wan to scar their catalog..Sigh... i wan to do something special on this leap day too.. but I've got no one to do it with... its tough being alone sometimes... i miss my friends....